


heartsigh

by DaryanCrescend



Category: Persona 5
Genre: M/M, Past minor character death, Polyamory, Supernatural Creatures AU, Supernatural Elements, mild horror elements, tags to be updated with the fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-07-25 09:00:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16194335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaryanCrescend/pseuds/DaryanCrescend
Summary: There’s a coffee shop on a back street in Yongen-Jaya and above it lives a witch. It’s said that for a fee he will assist you with any magical problem he is capable of solving.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So it’s the month of Halloween and my girlfriend turned to me the other day and suggested a supernatural creature AU and I may have gotten carried away.
> 
> Contains some death, abuse and suicide mentions but nothing more graphic than things that happen in canon.

If you walk down a back alley in Yongen-Jaya there’s a coffee shop, according to locals it used to be in a different location, a smaller premises where you could get a coffee and curry but that seems like local legend now.

Of course that isn’t the strangest thing about Café Leblanc, because for the past year give or take there’s a new legend, it’s said if you look to the left corner of the counter there’s a box of cards and on them an advertisement for tarot readings, and it’s said that those readings are almost scarily accurate.

Further legend, only known in supernatural circles, is that if you message the number on the card and ask for a special reading the witch will perform other services.

It’s that legend that leads Ryuji Sakamoto to the cafe on a grey and drizzly morning to enter the cafe and swipe a card from the box before joining the queue.

The barista himself isn’t too busy, an unassuming but attractive guy in an oversized black sweater who watches as Ryuji takes a card and smiles an unreadable smile.

“What can I get you this morning?” He asks as Ryuji gets to the front of the queue.

“Just a uh... small hot chocolate?” Ryuji replies.

“Would you like that to go or drink in?” The barista asks.

“Drink in please,” Ryuji digs in his pocket for his wallet, the business card feeling weightier than a small rectangle of card should. He pays and is told his drink will be brought over to him.

He takes a seat in a booth at the back and fishes the card out, turning it over in his hands. It’s dark red, the logo is a mask, it doesn’t look like anything special but it has a strange earthy smell that Ryuji assumes is unnoticeable to the average human.

“Here’s your hot chocolate,” it isn’t the same barista who brings his drink, this one is small with very long ginger hair and her scent makes the hairs on Ryuji’s arms stand on end.

“Are you alright?” She asks quietly, frowning a little.

“Oh... yeah... tired y’know, it’s early,” Ryuji tells her with a nervous laugh as she spots the card in his hand.

“Well enjoy your drink!” the woman replies, fake cheery, fake smile.

Ryuji watches as she heads back to the counter, leans in and says something to the barista that even his enhanced hearing can’t make out. The barista looks over at him and smiles gently.

Ryuji sips his drink and feels a wave of bravery sweep over him so he pulls out his phone and sends a message enquiring about a special reading to the number on the card.

He doesn’t have work, fitting in more than a part time job around the cycle of the moon is too difficult so he takes his time sipping his drink and watching as other customers come and go.

“When are you free?” The barista asks as Ryuji puts his now empty cup down. Ryuji hadn’t noticed him coming over.

“Huh?” Ryuji replies, his first thought is whether this guy is asking him on a date or something, not that he’s entirely convinced he’d say no even if he was. But he has the same scent as the card only stronger, woody, like a forest after rain.

“Your reading,” the barista says gesturing at the card on the table, “I figured the message I got right after you picked up my card was you.”

“Oh...” Ryuji scratches the back of his neck, “when do you have time?”

“I can do your consultation any day this week after eight when we shut,” the barista says, “tonight if it’s urgent.”

It isn’t really, Ryuji has two and a half weeks before the next full moon and this guy doesn’t seem too busy if he can offer any evening but he needs to get it done before he loses his nerve. “Tonight sounds good.”

“I’ll see you at eight then?” The barista asks giving him a warm smile.

“Eight,” Ryuji confirms.

“Akira I need a double-shot soy cappuccino, extra foam,” the other barista calls from behind the bar.

“Futaba hates doing this order, she can’t make the soy milk foam,” the barista, who must be Akira, confides in a low whisper, “but I’ll see you again at eight, Mr... uh?”

“Sakamoto,” Ryuji replies, “Ryuji Sakamoto.”

Akira nods and smiles as a sharp; “Akira!” rings out across the cafe.

 

Eight comes both too slowly and too fast and Ryuji still has no idea what to expect from this consultation. Honestly he’d kinda assumed that he’d walk in and say “hi I need something to control my uncontrollable wolf rage around and during the full moon” and walk out with a spell or something, but that was probably not going to be the case. All of the lights in the shop are still on and there was still a customer sat in one of the booths deeply invested in sketching something.

“Welcome back,” Akira says as the bell on the door finishes chiming. “Sorry I’m running a little late closing tonight, can I get you a drink or anything before I close the machine down?”

Ryuji feels around in his pocket, whatever this will cost, and his rent, are already going to eat into his bank balance enough.

“You don’t need to pay,” Akira says with a laugh, “it’s on the house while you wait.”

“Another hot chocolate then, please,” Ryuji still isn’t sure what he expected, maybe Halloween witches? Someone old and temperamental? Not a mild mannered barista who kept his shop open for artists and offered free drinks when running late.

Ryuji takes a seat and minutes later Akira brings a hot chocolate and some paperwork over.

“If you could fill that in while I clean up it’ll save some time, it’s just some basic client information,” Akira says putting the forms down, “there’s also two client privacy forms, we sign them both and then we keep a copy each, just to say I won’t share your personal information.”

“Thank you,” Ryuji says and looks down at the form nervously, sharing his information seems awfully trusting but he really needs the help.

He looks them over as Akira cleans and Futaba comes back out of the back with a mop and bucket and begins to clean the floors.

“Oh, are you closing?” The artist says closing his sketchbook and standing up, he’s tall and thin and when Ryuji takes a breath he realised that he can’t smell anything from him, it’s unnerving.

“Yeah, sorry about that, we’re open later on the weekends,” Akira says pausing wiping the bar down.

“I see,” the man says, disappointment colouring his tone.

“Will I see you tomorrow?” Akira asks.

“Maybe,” the man says shoving his sketchbook into his bag.

“I hope so, have a good night,” Akira says with a smile and waves him off.

“Right I’m done,” Futaba props the mop against the bar.

Akira looks over the tables and sighs, “I’ll see you in the morning.” He waits for Futaba to leave and then takes a seat. “She was meant to wipe the tables down but I guess I’ll do that later.”

“Are we doing this here?” Ryuji asks looking around, most of the lights are off but the windows seem awfully large and open.

“Oh no, don’t worry, I live in the flat above here,” Akira explains taking the forms back, looking over them both and signing both copies of the privacy form before handing one back.

Ryuji folds his up and shoves it into his coat pocket. “What was that guy?” He asks finally.

“I can’t tell you that,” Akira says and then laughs, “well actually I could, he’s not a client.”

“A friend?” Ryuji asks, the mans complete lack of scent still bothering him.

“Potentially,” Akira replies, “though I can say that the first time I saw his aura I was a little afraid of him too.”

Ryujis nerves subside a little, if Akira is serious about the privacy of a potential friend then he definitely will be about an actual client. “He doesn’t smell of anything, everyone has a smell but not him.”

Akira tilts his head, “so you are?”

“A werewolf,” Ryuji admits and feels a weight that he didn’t realise he’d been carrying lift.

“Oh shoot,” Akira says and reaches up to unclip the long layered necklace he’d been wearing, “I don’t want to lean over and risk burning you.” He shoves the necklace under the counter and pulls out a set of keys and a smartphone.

“If you read aura, what’s mine like?” Ryuji asks as Akira unlocks a door at the back.

“Yellow, like sunshine,” Akira says pushing the door open and gesturing for Ryuji to follow, “but there’s some grey spots like...”

Ryuji follows him down a short corridor and up the stairs wondering what grey means and why he trailed off until they reach a landing with two doors and Akira gets to unlocking the second one, “like?”

“Like you have a darkness, but you’re fighting it,” Akira says carefully, swinging the door open.

“That’s almost exactly why I’m here,” Ryuji laughs nervously but any other thought is cut off by the smell, it’s like waking up naked in a flowerbed and a trip to the botanical gardens undercut with minerals and sea water. Ryuji steps in to the apartment, it’s a living room and kitchen in one with two doors leading to what he assumes are a bathroom and bedroom and another glass door, possibly a balcony covered in an absolutely astronomical amount of plants, they take up almost every surface in all shapes and sizes.

The next overwhelming thing is a smell of rot and cheese and it’s truly horrible, he tries to suppress the gag but chokes on it anyway, “what’s that smell?” He asks, eyes burning.

“I could ask the same.”

Ryuji looks for the source of the voice but there’s only him and Akira and an extraordinary amount of plants.

“Morgana if you can’t be nice go to my room,” Akira says back to the voice and then looks at Ryuji and takes a deep sniff. “Shit, the Valerian is flowering, I’ll put it on the balcony.”

Akira scoops a plant under one arm.

“Why is there a dog in my house?” The voice asks and Akira bends down and scoops a small black cat up under the other arm.

“He’s a client and you’ll be nice to him,” Akira tells the cat.

“Is your cat talking?” Ryuji splutters through the sleeve he’s smothered his nose with.

“I’m not a cat!” Morgana protests, despite very clearly being a cat.

Akira opens the balcony door and puts the plant outside before shutting it again. The smell subsides almost immediately. “So, would you prefer paying your own rent or being polite to my clients?” Akira asks.

“I can’t get a job, I’m a cat!” Morgana protests in direct contradiction with his previous statement.

“Bedroom then,” Akira says carrying him over and entering the bedroom. Ryuji hears a stern “we’ll talk about this later” before Akira re-emerges.

“Ironically, he was a human, until he was rude to the wrong witch,” Akira explains quietly.

“Felines and canines don’t get on, don’t worry about it,” Ryuji says even though he himself is worrying that he smells of dog.

“Anyway, take a seat,” Akira gestures to the couch and picks up a notepad, a pen and a big leather bound book and sits in the armchair across from it.

Ryuji sits down, it’s a nice couch, soft and covered in blankets and throws. “Sorry, I don’t really know how this works just that I need help...”

“It’s okay, as it said in the form we’ll do a consultation and depending on what you need I’ll either book you in for a follow up or try and solve it immediately,” Akira tells him flipping the notepad open.

“That works,” Ryuji says as Akira scribbles in the pad.

“So what’s the issue?” Akira asks.

Ryuji hesitates, thinking of his fathers phone call and losing his pack and the feelings of anger and being lost and the rage that honestly scared him. “I don’t have a pack anymore and I’m having trouble controlling my anger around the full moon.”

“May I ask what happened with your pack?” Akira asks making another note.

That’s a horrible long story, one he has to be very careful with because he doesn’t want anyone he cares about to be implicated in anything surrounding it. “Somebody who screwed my life up was killed, human authorities say it was an animal and my pack suspected it was me.”

Akira frowns, “was it? Do you know?”

“It wasn’t, I actually know what and who and why but I couldn’t tell them,” Ryuji says carefully, “but I missed my chance to protect the thing that did it from him because I was stupid and young, so this time I chose to.”

“At the expense of your pack?” Akira says scribbling furiously, “that’s noble.”

“It ain’t,” Ryuji says shying away from the scrutiny of Akiras silver eyes, “it’s atonement, they ended up in a bad situation because I didn’t believe them and someone ended up dead because nobody believed me and I didn’t fight to make ‘em. I’ve gotta make it up somehow.”

“I won’t pass on anything you say here,” Akira assures him, “I’m not bound to a code or laws that mean I have to tell someone if I think you’re a danger.”

“A girl at my school killed herself because she was being abused by a teacher, he also attacked me and broke my leg, but he blamed me and then he turned up dead,” Ryuji rubs the back of his neck, “I don’t blame them for kicking me out.”

“Shiho...” Akira murmurs sadly.

“You knew her?” Ryuji asks, if not her then maybe Ann has been here. Ryuji wouldn’t be surprised, he still remembers Ann turning up covered in blood and begging for his help like it was yesterday even though it’s been two years.

“I’ve heard of her,” Akira replies cryptically.

“Well all that happened and I lost my pack and I was doing okay but someone came back into my life recently and I just... I can’t do it on my own anymore,” it feels good to talk about it even if it scares him.

“Do you need help around the full moon or just during?” Akira asks gently.

“Both.” Ryuji remembers the murderous rage, the feeling that he could just let go and prevent his father from ever contacting him again and he never wants to feel it again.

“Can you tell me what triggered it?” Akira asks making a note and then flipping the leather bound book open.

“Somebody from my past got in contact too close to the full moon and I was scared of what I could have done if he’d been there in person,” Ryuji replies, guarded, talking about Kamoshida is one thing but talking about his father is another.

“Well,” Akira closes his book, makes another note and the shuts the notebook too, “I can set you up with a potion for the transformation, the rest sounds like you’ll need an amulet, which will take a little longer to prepare.”

“Anything you think will help,” Ryuji replies, he feels a little raw, like he’s been picking scabs.

“The potion will prevent you from becoming monstrous, you’ll be an average wolf although I’ll need to do an overnight toxicity test a week before the full moon and then supervise your first few, just to make sure I’m not poisoning you and it works as it should,” Akira explains, “and while I’m working on that I’ll try to figure out an enchantment and what will be the best thing that you can keep on as a human and a wolf.”

“That sounds intense,” Ryuji says, suddenly feeling bad and like he’s imposing, “and expensive... I only work part time.”

“So you have time to spare?” Akira asks with a smile, “if you can’t pay me in money I can always use an extra pair of hands in the cafe.”

“What about your time?” Ryuji asks, paying in services he can do but that’s still a lot.

Akira gets up and moves over to perch on the arm of the couch, “I can’t help everybody but it sounds like you’ve pulled the short straw more times than you deserve, and you’re clearly trying to make things better, I want to help you.”

Ryuji nods, unsure if he can speak past the lump in his throat, “thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Akira reaches out and squeezes his shoulder, “just come back in a week and bring an overnight bag.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t get anyone to beta read this so I’m sorry if there’s errors, I’ve read it over myself but please don’t hesitate to tell me if there’s something I’ve missed

A week later and while the shop looks closed both Akira and Futaba are still there, so it seems is the artist from the week before.

“Evening,” Ryuji says letting himself in and ditching his overnight bag on a table.

“Ready to be a guineapig?” Futaba asks with a devilish grin but not looking up from her phone, which is faintly playing music and making a jangling sound every time she taps the screen.

“I really hope he ain’t gonna turn me into a guineapig,” Ryuji jokes, he knows there could be side effects but that wasn’t one he contemplated.

“I haven’t mastered transformation,” Akira says wiping the milk nozzle on the coffee machine.

“Wait...” Ryuji looks at Akira and then back to Futaba. “Confidentiality?”

“Alls I know is that he’s doing a supervised “I hope this won’t poison you” test and you’re not staying over so he can tuck you in and read you bedtime stories!” Futaba cuts in with a giggle that suggests her teasing might not have been as innocent as she’s suggesting.

“Is this my cue to leave?” The artist asks, clearing the debris from his table.

“If you want help setting up your phone come over when you have it,” Futaba says grinning at him.

“I’m sure I can manage myself,” the artist grouses.

“Well my tech support door is always open if it’s too complicated for you,” Futaba giggles.

“I may require some instruction,” the artist admits.

Ryuji stares at him, he smells of nothing and he might not know how to set up a phone and Ryuji knows there must be some connection between the two but he can’t figure out what it is.

“I’d still like to see your art some day,” Akira says softly.

“Maybe,” the artist says with a shrug.

“Oh and Yusuke?” Akira leans over the counter and picks up one of his business cards, “take this, then you can message me and I’ll give you my personal number.”

Yusuke takes the card and stares at it.

“Or he can get it off me,” Futaba adds locking her phone and shoving it into her pocket with a wicked grin.

“I might,” Yusuke says and pockets the card before leaving.

“Have fun, don’t die and don’t do anything I wouldn’t,” Futaba says hopping off the table she was sat on.

“But I can stay awake all night hyped up on energy drinks and spend all my wages on idol game gacha?” Akira teases and Futaba flips him off as she leaves.

“So are you two close?” Ryuji asks after the door shuts.

“She’s practically my little sister, her dad owns this place and he helped me out when I was having a hard time,” Akira explains ringing his cleaning cloth out over the sink.

“So not a client?” Ryuji asks, her smell bothers him in a way that he can’t explain, earthy mixed with something old like a library that hasn’t been touched in a long time but electric in a way that leaves his nose tingling.

“She’s a witch too,” Akira says studying his face intently, “her particular power is... rare, a little dangerous but mostly only for her, she’s a pain and she enjoys winding people up but she’d never use it to hurt anyone intentionally so please don’t tell anybody.”

“I won’t,” Ryuji promises and picks up his bag.

“Thank you,” Akira says retrieving his keys and phone, Ryuji notices belatedly that today all of his jewellery is gold. “She’s come so far from who she was when we met.” His voice is tinged with a mix of sadness and pride but Ryuji doesn’t want to pry more than he already has.

Akira hoists a big box under his arm and switches off the last of the lights before they head upstairs. 

“Can you grab this?” Akira asks jiggling the box when they get to the door of his flat.

Ryuji takes it off him, “it’s heavy, what is it?”

“It’s a PlayStation 4 and a bunch of games, Futaba brought it over because she says, and I quote; “he seems like a normal kinda guy so he probably won’t want to stay up reading plant encyclopaedias for fun” which is not all I do for fun, for the record.” Akira explains stepping in to the flat.

“No you also have an impressive collection of rocks,” Ryuji teases as he puts the box on one of the kitchen counters because they’re the only things not covered in plants and books and notices that the sink is full of stones.

“They’re crystals!” Akira protests, “and they’re recharging in sea water, usually I do it in buckets on the balcony but it’s been raining so much I haven’t had chance.”

“So...” Ryuji says looking around, he’d been so nervous about being there the first time that he hadn’t really taken it in. There are plants and books all over the shelves and dressers, a tapestry hung on the largest space on the wall, it looks like Akira smells.

“Give me a second, I’ve got coffee on my jeans and I’ve been sweating in this shirt all day,” Akira says and vanishes into the bedroom. Ryuji hears voices but he tries not to listen, instead wandering over to the balcony doors and looking outside. The balcony is covered in plants and a single chair sits on it with an empty plant pot on it. There’s an open window across the street emanating blue light, it’s a nice neighbourhood, quieter than the one he and Ann are renting in.

“It doesn’t exactly have stunning mountain views like I grew up with but I think it’s charming in its own way,” Akira says from behind him.

Ryuji turns and is greeted by the sight of Akira in all black, silk pyjama bottoms and an oversized soft looking sweater, the whole thing catches the light in a way that seems honestly magical. His heart does a funny flip at the sight but he tries to ignore it.

“Hi,” Akira says with a smile that makes Ryuji forget why he’s there momentarily.

He doesn’t get this way about other men often, he can only think of two, one of them was his best friend on the track team before his leg was shattered and the team disbanded and the other was a member of his pack. Neither had gone anywhere, probably entirely because of Kamoshida, but he was demon shit now and nothing to worry about. Akira has a quiet, magnetic charm that makes Ryuji want to reach out and touch but he buries the urge. “So what do we need to do?” 

“I’m going to take your blood pressure and heart rate and I need to know if you feel any kind of sick or weird so I can record any changes,” Akira says shaking his head and moving to open a box on the table.

“Just normal feeling today, kinda tired but I was on the night shift last night,” Ryuji says as he watches Akira take out a blood pressure monitor.

“Where do you work?” Akira asks setting the machine up.

“A convenience store in Shibuya,” Ryuji replies with a wave of his hand, it’s shift work and part time which works around the moon phases but isn’t exactly interesting, then again Akira is a barista so he probably won’t judge Ryuji for not having a career.

“Don’t you just love working somewhere people look down on you for even though if nobody worked there they couldn’t buy food or have their super important morning espresso,” Akira jokes with a roll of his eyes as if picking up on Ryujis embarrassment, “can you put the index finger of your left hand in the clip, please, it’ll pinch but it doesn’t hurt.”

“It’s okay, I’m used to medical pain anyway,” Ryuji confesses, sticking his finger in to the machine, he had enough poking and prodding from the doctors who had to surgically reset his knee.

“Your leg?” Akira asks, fiddling with buttons.

“Had to have my knee surgically reset,” Ryuji shrugs as if it wasn’t a defining moment in his life, no big deal. “They thought I wouldn’t walk normally again, let alone run, then I got bit.”

Akira jots down the reading and unhooks the first machine before getting another smaller one out. “I’m going to put one monitor on your wrist and the other on your finger and then you have to stay as still as you possibly can for at least a minute.” He explains clipping a band around Ryujis wrist and then guiding his finger to the right spot on the monitor.

Ryuji expected his hands to be cold like a doctors, maybe callused or rough but instead they’re soft and warm and if his heart was being normal before it certainly isn’t now.

The machine finally beeps and Akira writes down the numbers from it and then grins at him, “pretty normal so let’s hope it stays that way after you take the potion, would you like a drink to wash it down with?”

“Uh... sure?” Ryuji replies, he hasn’t actually considered that he might be about to drink something super gross tasting.

“I’ve got...” Akira says wandering over to the kitchen, “six types of tea, Second Maid, Calpico, Dr Salt NEO, 1UP, Shochu, beer, lemonade or tap water.”

“That’s a lotta soda,” Ryuji says giving the witch a look, he didn’t really peg Akira as a soda drinker.

“I have this habit of buying soda from vending machines in case I want it and then forgetting it’s there,” Akira replies with a laugh, “so I’ve got a lot.”

“I ain’t judging,” Ryuji laughs, “I take all sorts of shit home that we can’t sell, Ann ate a six pack of fresh cream donuts this morning that I’d taken back.”

“Ann?” Akira asks, “your girlfriend?”

Ryuji laughs, he can’t help himself, there was a time where he would have given anything to date her, or even to have her look at him like that, but now he’s seen her blow nail filings on the carpet, work out a sheet changing rota so they don’t leave dirty sheets on their beds for a month and pack away an entire six pack of donuts. She’s incredible and beautiful and his best friend in the whole universe, but they’re never going to date and frankly he no longer wants to. “Nah, she’s my flat mate and my best friend so people tend to assume but it ain’t like that.”

“Sorry, that was nosy,” Akira laughs nervously and grabs two cans from the fridge along with a small bottle of something dark green looking.

“Nah, it’s fine, any guy would be lucky to date her,” when she’s not eating them or being every bit as gross as a boy, “but they’d have to get past my in depth screening process first.” And be female, but Ryuji certainly isn’t going to tell someone she doesn’t know about that.

“I feel the same about Futaba,” Akira says placing the sodas on the coffee table, “but they’d have to get past Sojiro, and he’s way scarier than I am.” Akira then walks over to a cupboard and slides the door open to reveal a television, “I figured even if you don’t wanna play games we can put a movie on so you don’t just have to sit doing nothing.”

“What games do you have?” Ryuji asks, it’s impressive how contained Akiras flat is.

“Whatever Futaba dumped in there,” Akira admits with a sheepish chuckle, “my other system is a Sega but it’s on its last legs.”

Ryuji gets up and wanders over to the box, he’s half expecting it to be full of whatever games girls like, Hello Kitty or whatever but there’s actually a decent selection and a note listing everything she’s bought digitally. “There’s some good stuff in here.” He comments turning around as Akira switches the television on.

Akira doesn’t say anything back, the woman on television is talking about a recent spate of deaths. Ryuji has heard some stuff about it, mostly through Ann, because it seems somebody is killing Supernatural creatures.

“Honestly, the idea that supernatural creatures are real seems absurd, I think we’re most likely dealing with somebody very sick who thinks they’re killing creatures and that’s why the methods of death are the kind you would use to kill them in legend,” the guest detective says, “if you think about it the methods used will still kill a human, iron or silver bullets are still bullets and not many humans can survive being drowned or set alight.”

“But Akechi-san, we must know, what is your theory on why nobody has been killed in the way you would a vampire?” The interviewer asks.

Akira is still on his knees in front of the coffee table, frowning at the screen. It seems awfully convenient that Detective Akechi is shooting the theory down, sure many human detectives would rather believe that someone is on a deranged killing spree of humans than acknowledge that maybe there are other things out there, and the supernatural world would too, but there’s something off about his conviction that Ryuji can’t put his finger on.

“Well for a start the woman who the killer drowned was drugged first, so we believe that it may be a case of physical strength and if they truly believe they are killing creatures not humans then how do you administer a drug to a vampire? So stakes are really out of the question, forgive me for being candid but it would take a lot of strength to break through a persons ribcage, in fact you’re more likely to break the tip of the wood,” Akechi explains, “we are however keeping an eye out for any other methods of killing.”

“You okay, dude?” Ryuji kneels down next to Akira and touches his shoulder.

“He’s wrong,” Akira replies with a frown, “the woman who was drowned was a witch, and a vampire who had been banished from his clan went missing, the general consensus is that they got caught in the sun but this suggests otherwise I think.”

“I don’t know much about anything since I left the pack but I hope they’re being cautious,” Ryuji says as the show moves on to the next story.

“All the more reason to get this sorted,” Akira gestures to the vial on the table, “at least then you can safely stay inside.”

“So what do I gotta do?” Ryuji asks, the idea that he can stay safely inside without risking anyone’s safety if he takes this stuff far outweighs the fact that it looks gross up close.

“Just swallow it,” Akira says, “then we sit and play whatever game and you tell me if you feel any side effects.”

“What the whole vial?” Ryuji jokes, picking it up but not removing the cap.

“Not unless you want to definitely go to A&E,” Akira replies with a laugh, colour beginning to return to his face. 

“Well let’s do this then,” Ryuji says uncapping the vial and drinking the bitter liquid inside.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it, feedback is always so appreciated and I’m not gonna lie and say it doesn’t motivate me because it does. Thank you for reading!!


End file.
